I wonder if the fact that a different charge appears on the first separating grains which then biases the process to enhance that effect. I always seek out positive feedback mechanisms and this might be another.
Something of this nature could make sense since the particles with the initial charge impacts other particles nearest to them greater than those at a distance. It would be interesting to determine what characteristics are common to the powders most active. Do they polarize easily? Is the dielectric constant the most important parameter? Of course conductive particles could not behave this way since the charges would leak off. Dave -----Original Message----- From: mixent <mix...@bigpond.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Thu, Mar 13, 2014 4:55 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:unknown mechanism generates voltage in the powder cracks In reply to H Veeder's message of Wed, 12 Mar 2014 17:16:06 -0400: Hi Harry, [snip] >> When grains made of long chain molecules rub against one another molecules >> can >> be broken (this should happen with some plastics too). When a molecule >> breaks, >> it can either form two neutral molecules, or a pair of ions. The latter >> constitute opposing charges on two separate grains (each gets part of the >> original molecule). Breaking into two charged ions may be more likely in >> molecules containing atoms such as Oxygen which tend to hold onto excess >> electrons, thus retaining a negative charge. >> Regards, >> >> Robin van Spaandonk >> >> http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html >> >> > >Here is another story about the same research. Apparently they detected >the same effect with "glass particles". >http://www.livescience.com/43686-earthquake-lights-possible-cause.html > >If ions are formed in the way you describe wouldn't these microscopic >charge differences >tend to cancel out at the macroscopic level? > >Harry Yes, I would think so. That's the flaw in my theory. When two different substances rub together, one will probably have a greater electron affinity than the other, which would explain bulk polarization of charge, however the same can't be said for a single substance. I guess that's why they are so puzzled. Now I am too. :) Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
